Ship maneuvering means



Aug. 17, 1965 D. K. WINTER SHIP MANEUVERING MEANS Filed Nov. 24, 1964 INVE/VTUI? DUNCAN KENNETH WINTER BY fmbflbfi (J United States Patent 3,200,783 SHIP MANEUVERING MEANS Duncan K. Winter, 4614 Maple Ave., Bethesda, Md. Filed Nov. 24, 1964, Ser. No. 413,542 5 Claims. (0. 114-163) The present invention relates to ship propulsion and more specifically to means to give greater and more reliable maneuverability to ships and to means to facilitate navigation especially in congested or limited water areas, and is a continuation-impart of application Serial No. 358,235, filed April 8, 1964.

Ships in order to be maneuverable must normally have steerageway, that is, they must be moving at an appreciable speed or they cannot be steered and at low speeds the steering of ferryboats or the like is not dependable, especially when complicated by winds and water currents.

Many proposals have been made to correct this defect but without developing a practical means.

The present invention provides means so that propulsive forces of the vessels propeller may be applied to the ship at a wide range of angles in addition to the direction of the conventional propulsion force for the ship.

An objective of the present invention is to provide special rudder means for use with conventional ship propulsion means to make the propulsion means readily available to provide athwartships propulsive forces at one or both ends of the ship.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide rudder means usable in narrow and congested waters to give very rapid changes of the forces applied to the vessel both in direction and in intensity.

Other and further objects and advantages will appear from the following specification, taken with the accompanying drawing, in which like characters of reference refer to similar parts in the several views, and in which:

FIGURES 1-5 are diagrammatic showings of a propeller and of rudders according to the present invention, the rudders being shown in different positions to which they may be adjusted.

FIGURE 6 is a diagrammatic plan of the present invention.

At each end of the ferryboat there will be a conventional propeller 10 just outboard of which there are provided twin rudders 11 and 12, which, as indicated in FIGURES 1 and 2, may be turned to suitable angles to steer the vessel in the normal manner. As will be seen from FIG- URES 3, 4 and 5, these two rudders may also assume positions which are not conventional, the condition noted in FIGURE 5 being designated as a hovering position. When using this position for the rudders, both rudders are turned inwardly or toed in so that the water from propeller 10 is deflected outwardly equally at both sides, this occurring at both ends of the vessel, the vessel will merely stay in place yet will be capable of being rapidly maneuvered. If the position of the rudders 11 and 12 is changed from that of FIGURE 5 to that of FIGURE 3 at each end of the ferryboat and in opposite directions, the ferryboat will rotate about its own center and if the rudders are moved to the positions of FIGURE 3 in the same direction at both ends of the vessel, the ferryboat will be moved bodily sideways. The operation of the rudders 11 and 12 is controlled by a handle 13 seen diagrammatically in FIGURE 6 which may operate along a path or cam slot or guide 20.

Handle or helm 13 controls rudders 11 and 12 by moving racks 14 and 15 lengthwise to rotate gears 16 and 17 which are operatively connected to rudders 11 and 12. Racks 14 and 15 are connected to the handle by links 18 and 19, the path of handle 13 being determined by the size of gears 16 and 17, the length of links 18 and 19 and the angularity of the racks 14 and 15.

3,200,783 Patented Aug. 17, 1965 Assuming the rudders to be in the hovering position of FIGURE 5 at H, which is duplicated in full lines in FIG- URE 6, the rudders will move through the FIGURE 4 position to the FIGURE 3 position as the handle 13 is moved first to point A and then to point B. These positions of the rudders are shown in dotted lines adjacent points A and B on FIGURE 6. When the handle 13 is moved from position B to position C, the rudders 11 and 12 assume the parallelism of the normal steering range which they will maintain from point C, on one side as seen in FIGURE 2 through point D amidships, as seen in FIGURE 1, to point E at the other side (dotted lines in FIGURE 6). Points F and G give positions of the rudder similar to those of positions B and A, respectively, but in the opposite sense. During normal operation in uncrowded waters, the handle 13 is moved between points C and E to steer the vessel as is the usual practice. If, however, it is required that the ship turn sharply, handle 13 may be moved from point C to point B to give a deflection of the water sharply to that side. It will be seen from FIGURE 6 that extremes of steering ability are provided by this means to manipulate dual rudders on vessels such as ferryboats or the like.

In dotted lines in FIGURE 6 is an additional track or cam slot 21 along which handle 13 can pass. Cam slot 21 extends from position H through position D in a straight line. At H the two rudders 11 and. 12 toe in, that is, their edges toward propeller 14) are in contact. At D the two rudders are parallel and amidships while at H the two rudders toe out, that is, their edges remote from the propeller 10 are in contact.

The toe in position is denoted as the hovering position, the toe out position is an emergency position. In the hovering position the flow of water from each propeller 10 (there being one in operation at each end of the vessel) is divided but provides a direct axial thrust on the vessel that is balanced by a counter thrust from the propeller at the other end of the vessel where the rudders are also in the hovering position. When both handles 13 (that is, the handle controlling the rudders of which there is one for each end of the vessel) are moved to position B, the entire thrust of each propeller will be deflected to one side of the center line of the vessel so that the vessel will rotate without causing endwise motion. If one handle 13 is put in the B position and the other in the F position the vessel will be moved bodily sidewise.

If the vessel is proceeding under power from one propeller 10 and an emergency arises, placing handle 13 in the position H causes the maximum drag on the vessel to slow it down. The navigator being able to apply this drag almost instantaneously, far faster than he can crash back his propulsion engine. It takes several seconds between the order full speed astern and the execution of the order. The emergency position of the rudders at H therefore is useful to take way off the vessel in order to avoid collision.

It will be noted that the path of the handle 13 is shown as being restricted to cam slots 20, 21. It is envisioned, however, that the outer peripheries of these slots will be the limits of motion of the handle 13. It will be seen that the need to closely follow the slot 20* as shown in FIGURE 6, would severely restrict the speed at which the selected attitude of the rudders could be changed.

The question arises as to how the racks 14 and 15 rotate rudders 11 and 12 since it is to be expected that handles 13 are to be operated by a single person. Servo-mechanisms, and power multiply devices, are well known and have attained their own position as a separate field of invention. In FIGURES 6, rudders 11 and 12 are shown as being connected to gears 16 and 17 through servo, force multiplier 22 and 23, it is to be understood that these servo, power multiplying means are of conventional design such as will be found in patents directed to such devices per se.

I claim:

1. Maneuvering means for a self-propelled vessel, a propeller at at least one end of said vessel, a pair of balanced rudders positioned on vertical pivots in the slipstream of the propeller one on each side of the center line of said propeller, single manually movable means cooperatively connected to both said rudders to rotate said rudders on their pivots, a guide restricting the area over which said manually movable means can move, said guide having an elongated generally oval shape extending transversely of said vessel, the cooperative connection between said manually movable means and said rudders being such that upon movement of said manually movable means along one athwartship side of said guide, said pair of rudders operate in unison and remain parallel for conventional steering, movement of said manually movable neans against said guide at the end portions of said guide causes the rudder closest to that end of the loop of track to assume a position substantially normal to the slipstream of said propeller whereby said pair of rudders form a deflecting surface for the slipstream of said propeller to direct said slipstream in a directioin substantally normal to the length of said vessel, and upon movement of said manually movable means along the other athwartship side of said guide said rudders are again turned in unison to assume, at the amidships portion of said manually movable means, a position With the edges of said rudders closest to said propeller substantially in contact with each other.

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a 2. The maneuvering means or claim 1 in which said guide is so shaped that said single manually movable means can move from the amidships position in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ship to actuate said rudder through said links, racks and pinions to a position of said rudders with their edges remote from said propeller substantially in contact with each other.

3. A rudder and helm system for a vessel having a screw propeller, said system comprising a pair of balanced rudders mounted in the slipstream of the propeller, helm means to control both said rudders, means operatively connecting each said rudder to said helm means, said means operatively connecting each of said rudders to said helm means including a slidable rack and rotary pinion means, two links pivotally secured to said helm means, each of said links being secured to one of said slidable rack means, said rotary pinion means being each operatively secured to one of said pair of rudders.

4. The rudder and helm means of claim 3 in which the said slidable rack means are disposed at an obtuse angle to each other.

5. The rudder and helm means of claim 3 including two servo force multiplying means as part of the means operatively connecting said helm means to said rudder means, one said servo force multiplying means being posi-' tioned between each said rotary pinion and its corresponding rudder.

No references cited.

MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner. 

1. MANEUVERING MEANS FOR A SELF-PROPELLED VESSEL, A PROPELLER AT AT LEAST ONE END OF SAID VESSEL, A PAIR OF BALANCED RUDDERS POSITIONED ON VERTICAL PIVOTS IN THE SLIPSTREAM OF THE PROPELLER ONE ON EACH SIDE OF THE CENTER LINE OF SAID PROPELLER, SINGLE MANUALLY MOVABLE MEANS COOPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO BOTH SAID RUDDERS TO ROTATE SAID RUDDERS ON THEIR PIVOTS, A GUIDE RESTRICTING THE AREA OVER WHICH SAID MANUALLY MOVABLE MEANS CAN MOVE, SAID GUIDE HAVING AN ELONGATED GENERALLY OVAL SHAPE EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF SAID VESSEL, THE COOPERATIVE CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID MANUALLY MOVABLE MEANS AND SAID RUDDERS BEING SUCH THAT UPON MOVEMENT OF SAID MANUALLY MOVABLE MEANS ALONG ONE ATHWARTSHIP SIDE OF SAID GUIDE, SAID PAIR OF RUDDERS OPERATE IN UNISON AND REMAIN PARALLEL FOR CONVENTIONAL STERRING, MOVEMENT OF SAID MANUALLY MOVABLE MEANS AGAINST SAID GUIDE AT THE END PORTIONS OF SAID GUIDE CAUSES THE RUDDER CLOSEST TO THAT END OF THE LOOP OF TRACK TO ASSUME A POSITION SUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL TO THE SLIPSTREAM OF SAID PROPELLER WHEREBY SAID PAIR OF RUDDERS FORM A DEFLECTING SURFACE FOR THE SLIPSTREAM OF SAID PROPELLER TO DIRECT SAID SLIPSTREAM IN A DIRECTION SUBTANTIALLY NORMAL TO THE LENGTH OF SAID VESSEL, AND UPON MOVEMENT OF SAID MANUALLY MOVABLE MEANS ALONG THE OTHER ATHWARTSHIP SIDE OF SAID GUIDE SAID RUDDERS ARE AGAIN TURNED IN UNISON TO ASSUME, AT THE AMIDSHIPS PORTION OF SAID MANAULLY MOVABLE MEANS, A POSITION WITH THE EDGES OF SAID RUDDERS CLOSEST TO SAID PROPELLER SUBSTANTIALLY IN CONTACT WITH EACH OTHER. 